Becky was given her fathers name at birth, and when her mother remarried, she began using her stepfathers name at school although her name had not been legally changed. When she began to fill out college applications, she realized her legal name and her school records did not match, and made the decision to hyphenate her birth fathers surname and her step fathers surname.
That’s how I ended up with a hyphenated last name when I started college. And I could not wait when I got married, to switch to a single last name, because nobody could ever find my records. And when I’m 20 going to college, they’re like are you married?
She admits that the short length of her career prior to marriage made the decision to take her husbands name easier, because she was less published than she would have been, say 5 or 10 years later.
You know, because I got married early in my career it didn’t matter to me. But, I don’t think, I wouldn’t give up my name now and change it if I was getting married again or something